Bulldogs crank out 11 hits, trample Badgers at home

The Badger defense committed four errors on Friday, but third baseman Chance Vann made a sparkling play, fielding a two-hopper with his bare hand and throwing across the diamond in time for the out.

For the first time this season, senior pitcher Cody Bailey got roughed up a little.

Four Badger errors and four Badger runners stranded in scoring position didn't help matters as Burnet handed LHS (3-12 overall, 0-2 in District 25-4A) an 11-4 defeat at Badger Field on Friday.

Bailey, who went 1 for 4 and scored a run on offense, went the distance on the mound, allowing nine hits and 11 runs, but three of those runs were unearned.

"We've got to stop killing ourselves," LHS head coach Brian McBeth said. "We pitched all right, and we hit pretty decent late, but we've got to put everything together at the same time."

In the final game of the Brownwood Tournament (March 8) and the district-opener at Marble Falls (a 6-0 loss March 11), the Badgers committed just one error in each contest.

"In the last two game, we really started to come together defensively, but then tonight we had a couple of fielding errors and some throwing errors," McBeth said. "We really struggle with it."

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The Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead in the third. LHS clawed back within 2-1 in the fourth when Bailey singled and later scored on an error.

Burnet added one more in the fifth before blowing the game open with five in the sixth and three more in the seventh.

The Badgers scored three runs in the sixth. Stetson Magilke drove in Chance Vann with a double. Nick Cummings, who went 2 for 3, plated Magilke on an error. Ryan Abbott then drove in Cummings with a single to center.

Coleton Lucas and Justin Rainwater also recorded hits for the Badgers who will travel to Austin Lake Travis for a district contest at 7 tonight.